UFC 155 winner Erik Perez hoping to continue surge toward 4-0

Erik Perez (13-4 MMA, 3-0 UFC) sees no reason to slow his momentum following his third straight UFC win.

“I feel awesome, and I’m ready to rest one week and come back to train again for another fight,” he said following this past Saturday’s UFC 155, where he stopped Byron Bloodworth on the FX-televised preliminary card.

When he gets one, you can bet he’ll be wearing the luchador mask he won approval to wear.

“I feel like a superhero when I have the mask on, and being 3-0 right now, I can’t believe it,” said Perez, whose English skills lag behind his fistic ones. “I’ve been training real hard, and 4-0 is my next step.”

UFC 155 took place at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. The event’s main card aired live on pay-per-view following prelims on FX and Facebook.

After his masked march to the octagon, Perez put his fists on Bloodworth, who expired at the 3:50 mark of the first after a flurry of ground and pound.

UFC President Dana White isn’t usually a fan of costumes in the UFC. He said it “hurts” him when fighters don fanny packs, afros and dog collars – or basically everything middleweight Tom Lawlor wears – to the cage.

But after hearing Perez explain the meaning of the masks once worn by Aztecs (and now employed by Mexican pro-wrestlers), White softened his stance. If the masks do well at the concessions stand – and they were on sale at the arena – he might like them even better.

“I respect what the mask means to him as a fighter and as a Mexican,” White said at the post-event press conference. “Fanny packs and all this other goofy stuff, I could do without it.”

And White surely appreciates the emergence of new talent in the absence of bantamweight champ Dominick Cruz, who could be out much of next year after a second ACL surgery.

If the UFC heads to Mexico, as it expects to soon with casting taking place for “The Ultimate Fighter: Mexico,” you can expect Perez to be at the forefront of the promotion’s continuing efforts to open the Latin American market.

“A lot of people want UFC in Mexico who don’t have a visa,” said Perez, who spent his formative years in Guadalupe.

In the meantime, Perez will work on his English and wait for the UFC’s call.

UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey is probably the greatest female fighter on the planet, which is a tremendous feat. So why are we seemingly so obsessed with arguing about whether she could beat up men?